the voices " in the it ##za maya language . ti ##kal , however , is not the ancient name for the site but rather the name adopted shortly after its discovery in the 1840s . hi ##ero ##gly ##phic inscriptions at the ruins refer to the ancient city as ya ##x mu ##tal or ya ##x mu ##tu ##l , meaning " first mu ##tal " . ti ##kal may have come to have been called this because dos pi ##las also came to use the same emblem g ##ly ##ph ; the rulers of the city presumably wanted to distinguish themselves as the first city to bear the name . the kingdom as a whole was simply called mu ##tu ##l , which is the reading
the voices " in the itza maya language. tikal, however, is not the ancient name for the site but rather the name adopted shortly after its discovery in the 1840s. hieroglyphic inscriptions at the ruins refer to the ancient city as yax mutal or yax mutul, meaning " first mutal ". tikal may have come to have been called this because dos pilas also came to use the same emblem glyph ; the rulers of the city presumably wanted to distinguish themselves as the first city to bear the name. the kingdom as a whole was simply called mutul, which is the reading